DUKBUS. 



Order Hymenomycetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate LI. 



POLYPORUS PERENNIS, u 



Perennial Cinnamon Poli/porus. 



Oeit. Char. Hymenium concrete with the substance of the pileus, consisting of subrotuiid pores, with thin 

 simple dissepiments. Name from noKis, iimny, and Tropor, a pore, in allusion to the many pores of the hymenium. 



Spec. Char. Polyporus perennis. POeus from one inch and a half to four inches broad, coriaceous, 

 velvety, zoned, cinnamon, varying in depth of colour ; cup shaped when young, nearly plain when old ; often con- 

 fluent, marked with little raised radiating lines, giving it a striated appearance, margin fimbriate or laciniated. 

 Pores minute, roxmdish or angular, at length torn, decurrent ; of the same colour as the pUeus, darkening in age. 

 Stem from one to two inches high, varying greatly in thickness, bulbous at the base, very tough, velvety, cinnamoii 

 brown. 



Polyporus perennis, Vriei, Berkeley, Oreville. 

 Boletus perennis, Litin-tEiM, Withering, Persoon. 



coriaceus, Schaffer, BuU'mrd. 



fimbriatus, BnUiard. 



Hah. On the ground in sandy places, or peaty soil in woods under trees, and among heather. Autmnn and 

 Winter, remaining through the following Summer in a growing state. 



The afHiiity of this subject would at first sight appear to be with the central stemmed pored funguses 

 properly designated "Boletus;" on pulling P. perennis to pieces, however, the tubes are found to be 

 formed out of the same tough substance as the coriaceous pileus, which is very distinct in consistence from 

 the soft-fleshed family. There are several of the Polyporus tribe possessing, like tliis example, a stem, 

 central or lateral, which true stems must not be confounded with those " sportive " attempts to create such 

 pedestals for themselves, whicli P. versicolor and its congeners now and then indulge in, and w-hich are 

 merely prolongations of the pored substance, often formed upon a stick or similar supporting nucleus. 

 We have before explained that endurance for a period of several years, is not being truly Perennial; the 

 conditions of which are continuous development for a period exceeding two seasons. All the specimens we 

 have ourselves examined of P. perennis, appeared merely Biennial, growing for two seasons only, the first 

 in a depressed Pezj^A-like form, the second expanded, waved, and tiu'ning over ; after that, remaining still 

 on their site, they do not decay, but fade, become weather-beaten, losing their richness of colour and soft 

 velvety texture, wliile the margins acquire a jagged or fimbriated condition. Variations in the synonymes 

 of the plant are owing doubtless to the different ages at which it has been observed and described. The 

 coriaceous pileus becomes crisp and rigid in dry weather, and swells again in wet. Under trees, among 

 their dead leaves, it may often escape attention, closely resembling them in colour ; if this be the case, it is 



